1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a backlight unit and a display device including the backlight unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional display device displays a two dimensional flat image. As a demand for three-dimensional (“3D”) image increases in various fields such as a movie, a medical image, a game, an advertisement, an education, military, etc., a 3D image display device has been developed.
A three-dimensional display device displays a 3D image using a principle of binocular parallax through the eyes of a viewer. For example, since the eyes of the viewer are spaced a predetermined distance apart from each other, images observed by each eye from different angles are input to the brain of the viewer. A 3D image device allows the viewer to perceive a 3D effect and to sense a depth through the process described above.
A 3D display device may be classified into a stereoscopic type 3D display device and an auto-stereoscopic type 3D display device according to whether a viewer wears on special glasses or not to perceive the 3D effect. The steroscopic type 3D display device typically uses a polarizing method and a shutter glass method, and the auto-steroscopic type 3D display device typically uses a parallax barrier method and a lenticular method.
In the shutter method, when a left-eye image and a right-eye image are displayed on a display panel by a frame unit, a 3D image is realized by alternately opening and closing a left shutter and a right shutter of the shutter glasses in synchronization with the frame unit. In a 3D image display device including a liquid crystal display device, when a right-eye image is displayed during a right eye section after a left-eye image is displayed during a left eye section, the left-eye image may affect the right-eye image due to a slow response speed of the liquid crystal such that an image quality may be deteriorated. The deterioration of image quality may be effectively prevented by periodically turning a backlight unit of the liquid crystal display device on and off. That is, after turning a backlight unit off after a left-eye image is displayed on a display panel, the backlight unit is turned on again when a right-eye image is displayed in the display panel.